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Rabbitohs Run Over Young Pups

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After jumping out to an early lead, the Bulldogs NYC side have been run down and defeated 28-10 by the Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium.

It was five tries to two at the end of 80 minutes with Rabbitohs winger Neihana Walters scoring a hat-trick.

Centre Jayden Okunbor was a late withdrawal due to injury with Isaac Pedro coming into the side. Tre Deuce Sio dropped out of the side and Jack Gibbons took his pace on the interchange bench.

Just four minutes after the start of play the Bulldogs were able to put their first points on the board through hooker Connor Jones. The previous play fullback Josh Bergamin had the defence guessing and when he was brought down and able to get a quick play-the-ball, Jones darted to the right and crashed over to score. Halfback Zac Greene converted from 15m to the right of the uprights, giving the young pups an early 6-nil lead.

Twenty minutes later the lead was extended with winger Marcelo Montoya crossing over for a four-pointer. It came off a Jade Anderson cross-kick and Montoya leapt above his opposite and came down with the ball to score. Greene couldn’t convert with the score staying at 10-nil.

With two minutes remaining Coach Ben Anderson would have been riding his troops but Rabbitohs winger Neihana Walters benefited from a poor defensive read and cruised over to score in the north-east corner. The try couldn’t be converted from out wide, with the blue and whites going to the half-time break leading 10-4.

The Rabbitohs started the second stanza with purpose, scoring two tries in the first 12 minutes. The first was hooker Maia Sands who scored in similar fashion to the Bulldogs first try, by burrowing under the defence to score. The second was off the back of a break and it was Chad O’Donnell trailing on the inside who took the ball and ran 30m untouched to score. O’Donnell converted both of the tries, putting the Rabbitohs in front, 16-12.

Rabbitohs centre Siosifa Talakai was having a field day down the right hand side and created the home side’s fourth try, with Walters the benefactor. A simple fend and go put him into space before he found Walters on his outside who cruised over to score. O’Donnell again converted to put the lead out to two converted tries, 22-10.

Winger Walters registered his hat-trick with 10 minutes left on the clock when he went across to score in the south-west corner. It was a double cut-out that Walters benefited from to score the four points. The conversion was unsuccessful with the score staying at 26-10.

To soak up some time, the Rabbtiohs elected to take a penalty goal and put the lead out to three converted tries, 28-10 with four minutes remaining.

That’s how the score remained with the Rabbitohs winning their second game of the year.